In The Sixth Extinction, Elizabeth Kolbert looks at the five prior mass extinction events through various species and the scientists who currently study them and then posits (along with the scientific community) that we are in the midst of a sixth extinction that is being caused by humans. The book is divided into various chapters that each present a theme through the discussion of a specific species or group of species and their study. The book tracks our understanding of extinction, mass extinction events, and how […]
Making Dracula dull
Looking at the reviews on Amazon, I appear to be in the minority on this book, but I really hated it. To begin with, it is just way too long. I have no issue with long books per se, but this was about 300 pages of content in 645 pages. This book is an attempt to create a new Dracula mythology (just what we need right??). I wish I could explain to you exactly what such new mythology is, but except for the fact that Dracula apparently […]
How do you love a racist?
Confession time–I have been terrible about writing my reviews and actually finished this book weeks ago. I even had a great quote I wanted to use in my review, but it was an e-book borrowed from the library, so I don’t even have access to it anymore. In my defense, my husband and I are in the process of buying our first house and I’ve been slammed at work. But, on to the review … Wingshooters tells the story of a young half-Japanese, half-American girl being […]
I love Wuthering Heights, sorry, not sorry
As I mentioned in my last post, that book was such a slog that I took a break from it and re-read an old favorite–Wuthering Heights. I realize this book gets a bad rap, particularly to the extent that it romanticizes Heathcliff despite the fact that he is a terrible person. (For any of you who read the Thursday Next series–I find the references to Heathcliff in those books hilarious). I’m more of a Hareton girl myself, and (my two cents) I do not believe […]
Interesting subject matter, terrible writing
This book was such a slog for me. I even stopped reading for a bit and read an old favorite (review forthcoming). Little Big Horn and Custer’s last stand should be interesting–but this was just so dry. Moreover, the information was presented in such a jumbled fashion. It was neither chronologically or thematically organized. It might have been better for someone with more pre-existing knowledge about Little Big Horn, but as someone who had only very general knowledge going in, I really needed the information […]
How to build a Cannonball Read
For my first Cannonball Read book ever (and probably the first “book report” I’ve done in almost 20 years), I read How to Build a Girl by Caitlin Moran. While I generally enjoyed reading this book and it was a fairly quick read, the entire premise really bugged me. Essentially, the main character sets out to methodically change who she is, in other words to become a different girl. The issue is that she believes she has to change herself entirely, and in fact create a wholly […]